"That money is for his son's life." Han Sen looked at Tang Zhenliu's list and smiled.

"What's going on? You made a move on his son?" Tang Zhenliu looked at Han Sen with an expression of surprise.

"I didn't do anything to his son; he came after me." Han Sen told Tang Zhenliu the tale of what had occurred in the royal shelter.

"You're telling me you killed an evolver who had unlocked their first gene lock? You have opened a gene lock too, then, I presume?" Tang Zhenliu's eyes were wide, looking at his correspondent's face with much admiration.

"I'm not that fast; it was just luck. I have a kick-ass pet, and it was my pet that killed Thunderdevil," Han Sen told him, smiling.

"What sort of pet can be that powerful? If you've got any more for sale, I'll take ten!" Tang Zhenliu jested with a hearty laugh.

"I only have one. I can only surmise that Lady Luck is fond of me, when bestowing the fortune to receive such pet. You can't envy me!" Han Sen laughed.

"It is no wonder why he was willing to pay you that much. An evolver with an unlocked gene lock was killed by you? Nothing could stand in your way of killing Qi Xiuwen, if that is what you chose to do," Tang Zhenliu said.

"Of course, but I'm not that stupid. I'm not willing to kill people of small concern, like him. There'd be no benefit, and if anything, it'd just be a hassle. Retaliation from Dong Lin would likely occur, as well. I don't even have that many troops at my command, either. I need to make use of his men to take care of the royal shelter for a while, while my own army expands. Qi Xiuwen is now a puppet on strings, so I have no fear of any more betrayal. He and his troops will do things honestly and earnestly henceforth."

Han Sen continued to peruse the list while he told Tang Zhen Li, "I suppose I agree with the compensation they are offering. But I don't want these random items or their money. Help me talk to the people in Dong Lin and have it all swapped for Geno Creation pills."

"If those things don't work correctly, they can kill someone. What do you need that many for?" Tang Zhen Li enquired, frowning.

Han Sen knew what Tang Zhenliu was thinking, so he smiled. He said, "Don't worry, I'm not using this stuff to harm anyone. I know how to use them, but anyway, help me talk to them to get this exchange in motion."

"Okay, I'll get in touch with them. I'll let you know in a few days, most likely." After a while, Tang Zhenliu still wanted to ask once more, "Did your pet really kill Thunderdevil?"

"There were many people there, and they can be found all across the Icefields. If you honestly don't believe me, why don't you ask them? I barely lifted a finger." Han Sen spread his hands as he reasserted what had happened.

"Damn! Your luck really does make others jealous. To be able to kill a man who has unlocked their first gene lock, that pet must be way too OP. Why can't I ever be the recipient of such fortune?" Tang Zhenliu's face was one of almost anguish, in the envy he had for Han Sen.

Turning off the communicator, Han Sen went to the royal shelter.

The Geno Creation pills from Dong Lin were not the type of goods that could be purchased in the markets. This was because the Alliance forbid them to be sold. If Han Sen wanted to buy some, there was nowhere he could go to do so. Even if he could obtain them through the more illicit routes of trade, they'd cost an arm and a leg. So, getting them directly from the Qi family was undoubtedly the best way to go about their retrieval right now.

If the silver fox wanted to eat them so much, perhaps they could provide some major benefits? There would be no harm in having a few more at his disposal, anyway.

If they turned out to provide the boon he was hoping for, Han Sen thought Qi Xiuwen could stay wrapped around his finger for a while longer. If he ever wanted more, he could go through Qi Xiuwen for them at the family discount.

"Boss, the silver beetles outside the gate remain. They are not pulling away. We tried killing a few, and we were successful, but it's as if they can respawn in an instant! How should we deal with them?" Philip saw Han Sen pass by and made sure to voice his concern over their unwelcome squatters.

This Philip was quite something. The reason he was called Philip was because of his gluttonous appetite for fillet steaks.

Li Xinglun once said that Philip's family was rather extensive, and he himself was quite talented. If he wasn't, he couldn't be a faction leader in the fragmented Icefields, after all.

"I will handle this. You guys don't need to do anything." Han Sen then went to look for Zero, and with her and the silver fox in tow, exited the shelter via the main gate.

The evolvers out on the road would always allow Han Sen to pass, and many would greet him as courteously as they could. They'd also make sure to pay their respects to the silver fox.

"That is the pet that killed the guy with an unlocked gene lock."

"It looks so... ordinary. Who would have thought it possessed so much power?"

"Aww, it's so cute! I really want one."

Han Sen was holding the silver fox when he passed through the gate, but when he approached the ladybugs, they did not disappear underground. There was a dizzying amount of them, squirming and shimmering like a lake of molten silver.

But as Han Sen drew nearer, the presence of the silver fox eventually came to their attention. When it did, some ran away, whereas others burrowed underground as quickly as they could.

These silver beetles were very strange. You wouldn't receive an announcement when you killed one, there was no way to obtain a beast soul from them, and their carcasses simply decomposed without providing any meat for consumption.

It was the vast number of them that was most curious, though. It would seem no matter how many you killed, they'd always come back.

Han Sen held the silver fox and ran around the area in a loop. Wherever he went, the silver beetles would disappear, but whenever he left and later returned, they'd be back.

Han Sen summoned Princess Yin's spirit, bringing her pretty shadow to life in front of him. He pointed towards the silver beetles and asked, "What's the deal with these silver beetles?"

Princess Yin moved her pretty eyes and said, "They are not exactly 'creatures.'"

"Well, if they are not creatures... what are they?" Han Sen frowned as he enquired. After all, how could the creatures inside the shelters not be creatures?

"They would best be described as 'weapons,'" Princess Yin said.

"Give me the details." Han Sen was quite curious about this revelation, so he pressed further.

Princess Yin then explained, "There is a Silver Beetle Mother somewhere underground, and she can constantly reproduce the smaller bugs that you see here. But they're not offspring or babies in the traditional sense, they're more like weapons."

Han Sen now understood why killing them was so useless; the actual creature they sought resided underground!

"Is the Silver Beetle Mother a sacred-blood creature?" Han Sen asked.

"Yes," Princess Yin confirmed.

Han Sen looked around, and said while furrowing his brow, "Where can she be found?"

"I am unable to control it, as I once could. Therefore, I do not know. As a rough approximation of their burrowed depths, they usually live around five hundred meters underground."

"Five hundred meters?!" Han Sen's eyebrows went even tighter. There was no way he would be able to drill five hundred meters underground to fight a sacred-blood Silver Beetle Mother.

But if he did not kill it, it would cost a lot of resources to have people remove their presence, day-in, day-out. And Han Sen would be the one paying the most; therefore, he did not want that.

"It is not difficult to kill the Silver Beetle Mother. In fact, if I had my sister, we could do it together ourselves," Yin fluttered her beautiful eyes.

The beautiful twins, one with silver hair and the other with gold hair, appeared in front of him. Han Sen could not help but gulp as he witnessed their presence before him, side-by-side. It was a gorgeous sight to behold.